Ruben Arthur Stirton (1901-1966), known to his friends as "Stirt", was an American

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

, specializing in mammals, who was active in South America, the United States and Australia. Stirton was closely associated with the

University of California Museum of Paleontology The University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) is a paleontology museum located on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. The museum is within the Valley Life Sciences Building (VLSB), designed by George W. Kelham ...

, receiving an appointment as curator in 1930 and as its fourth director from 1949 to 1966. His career also saw engaged as a lecturer, associate professorship and then as a professor in 1951, from which time he was director of the University's Department of Paleontology. Stirton was born in Kansas on 20 August 1901, and graduated from the state's university in the field of zoology. He served as the

mammalogist In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous systems. The archive of number of mammals on earth is constantly growin ...

on expeditions led by Donald R. Dickey to El Salvador in the 1920s. His expeditions included a return to El Salvador in the 1940s, as well as another collecting fossils in Colombia. In 1953, he directed his studies to the

marsupial Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...

s of Australia, with the intent of discovering primitive species of marsupials. His publications mainly dealt with fossilized mammals from the

Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

, particularly

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

s and

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

s. Other contributions he made included careful and systematic descriptions of fossil specimens including an accurate determination of their geological origin, the use of animal groups to perform

stratigraphic Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

correlation, and various studies on evolutionary changes in several families of mammals. Stirton was the leading author of papers that described new taxa, including the

Vombatiformes The Vombatiformes are one of the three suborders of the large marsupial order Diprotodontia. Seven of the nine known families within this suborder are extinct; only the families Phascolarctidae, with the koala, and Vombatidae, with three ext ...

genera ''

Rhizophascolonus ''Rhizophascolonus'' is an extinct genus of wombat Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials of the family Vombatidae that are native to Australia. Living species are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh betw ...

'' and ''

Litokoala ''Litokoala'' is an extinct genus of marsupials, and along with '' Nimiokoala'', is closely related to the modern koala. The three genera may have diverged at an earlier date, although the drying of the continent and the expansion of ''Eucalyptus ...

'', which were published posthumously in 1967. He died on June 14, 1966, of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

, while attending a meeting of the

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence ...

in southern California. Stirton's students recall him as a popular lively lecturer, noting his rendition of the call of the Australian

dingo The dingo (either included in the species ''Canis familiaris'', or considered one of the following independent taxa: ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage ...

as an example of his enthusiasm. In 1979, fellow paleontologist

Patricia Vickers-Rich Patricia Arlene Vickers-Rich (born 11 July 1944), also known as Patricia Rich, is an Australian Professor of Palaeontology and Palaeobiology, who researches the environmental changes that have impacted Australia (including the ancient super ...

named the prehistoric species ''

Dromornis stirtoni ''Dromornis'' is a genus of large to enormous Fossil birds, prehistoric birds native to Australia during the Oligocene to Pliocene epochs. The species were flightless, possessing greatly reduced wing structures but with large legs, similar to the ...

'' (colloquially known as Stirton's thunderbird) after this researcher, which is possibly the largest bird ever.

References

{{authority control 1901 births 1966 deaths American paleontologists Taxon authorities Presidents of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology